The 5 W’s of Murder

A narrator always gets to know the reader before spilling their deepest secret.

I am a murderer.

She was just a silly nothing of a girl until I made her rise to fame. A pennything.

I imagine a dreary donut-glaze day at the station before I dropped murder in their laps. I’d like to say the coppers pounded down my door in their cliché little way, but really it was a nice rap-tap-tap. Like the children’s ditty: Skunk in the barnyard, pee-yew. Murder in the theater…for you…

Clueless buffoons, more accustomed to traffic control rather than detective work. I wasn’t considered suspect; for all intents and purposes, I was victim.

“Tell us what happened.” “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?” “Any odd or unusual behavior?” and the kicker: “Is there anyone who would have motive?”

“Don’t we all,” I said. “Don’t we all hold a reason to kill.”

I wasn’t much help. Why would I be? I divulged a dozen motives, to bait their sniffers a million directions, all but mine.

I don’t think they liked me all that much. Whatever. I wasn’t looking to impress. I was looking to distract. Once their curiosities turned elsewhere, I could move on to tell you, my now-avid readers, the story.

My story.

Our story.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears, does it make a sound? If a person is murdered and the tale is not told, did it happen?

And so, I have found my audience. Yes, you. Won’t you read my story, sleuth it out? I take the role of murderer, now you fancy yourself a detective.

Sit down, cozy up. I’d offer you a cup of tea, but you may worry it’s been poisoned, and you may be correct. But hold it, dear reader, don’t twist your shirt in a bundle before I give you all the pieces.

What: death, cold and sudden

Where: the most dramatic place for murder, the theater

When: the top of Act III, naturally

Who: Too many names, there are too many names in the world. I only remember the one girl. Don’t be indignant when you struggle to recall names, too.

No matter. I will choose some form of name to distinguish the lot. Let’s call them:

Madame Director,

Homeless Hag,

Facilities Hawk,

Villains 1 & 2,

Shy Boy,

Makeup Artist,

and Cami’s BFF.

But the one you’re waiting for: Camille. Or Cami now, to be more relatable, more likeable. Hear the sounds roll off your tongue: the name Cami skips playfully from your mouth, while the nasal sound of Camille bodes aloof, unapproachable. The name change is product branding or whatever.

She’s a washed up writer. Now scriptwriter and also, get this, leading lady. She scooped that right up, and Madame Director allowed it even though Cami has never performed on stage.

Why: Cami got one of the useless English degrees and expected it was worth something. Interned at a publishing company, but they wouldn’t look at her manuscript without an agent; and she couldn’t interest an agent though she had an in with a publisher.

She’d tell that sob story, then with a twinkle in her eye promise that this theatrical production would put us all on the map.

Hopeful.

Deluded.

But I would make her keep that promise.

Alibis are useless in this investigation, because all of us, of course, were at the theater when it happened. As for motive, don’t we all have something worth killing for?

If you were a Criminal Psychologist maybe you’d have this case wrapped up by now. Tell me, which of the listed characters am I, the murderer?

But statistically speaking, you likely aren’t a Criminal Psychologist, so here you are. Still reading. So many questions.

You know, you could hand this over to a Criminal Psychologist to solve. But I don’t think you will. Not now.

It’s not real, you say. It’s a book. And you’ll pore through this story looking for answers, intrigued by the tale, fascinated by death.

Okay, detectivize. Draw up a grid, write up characters and clues, cross off cleared suspects. Or whatever you crime buffs do. Maybe you have the cliché marker board to track your clues, or maybe you have the string linking ideas throughout a crime-solving room. You sure get off on this stuff, don’t you?

So let’s get to it. What I haven’t told you yet is How. But I can’t just tell you how she died. That’s too easy. Too quick. Buckle up: you’re in for a villainous monologue.

Author Bio:

Amy L. Sauder is a writer, educator, and creative. She has been called quirky meta mystery and walking fairytale. In her not-so-spare time, Amy coaches other writers and sells artistic fashion finds. While she has a degree in English, that has yet to land her amidst a murderous plot. Hopefully that doesn’t change.

SYNOPSIS

Sometimes we must let go of what was, appreciate what remains and fearlessly embrace what comes next.

Sebastian “Bas”

Born to a family of outlaws, I was destined to ride with the Satan’s Knights MC. With mayhem and havoc in my blood and chaos living deep in my soul, I learned the Devil don’t sleep. You never hear him creeping and he often comes disguised as everything you ever wanted.

I was just teenager when she first showed, masquerading as the girl of my dreams. A whiskey shootin’ spitfire who knocked me on my ass and helped me turn the town upside down. The girl who stole my heart with her smile and never gave it back. The same bitch who ruined me and turned my blood to ice.

It’s been six years since I turned my back on Mac, my family and my club. I’ve pushed her to the back of my head, wrote everyone off and damned the Kentucky charter to hell. But, where God built a church, the Devil built a chapel. Now, her life is on the line and it’s clear I’m still a sucker for her gorgeous chaos because I’m the one riding to her rescue.

Mackenzie “Mac”

I often dreamed of what it would be like to stare into Bas’ blue eyes again. To hear his raspy voice whisper his love for me and feel his strong arms around me. After all, it’s always been in his embrace that I felt the safest.In my dreams, he abolishes my sins and forgives me for breaking both our hearts.But this is no dream.I’m running from a nightmare and the one running with me, looks at me with enough anger to burn the world to ash.Once upon a time, we were in love.Once upon a time, it was us against the world.Once upon a time, he didn’t look at me and see the Devil.If only he knew the truth.If only he knew the Devil was a broken angel with tattered wings.An angel who sacrificed her heart and soul for him.

***NOTE: Contains explicit sexual situations, violence, offensive language, and mature topics. Not recommended for people under the age of 18***

#JanineInfanteBosco #JoeAdams

#SatansKnightsMC

ABOUT JANINE INFANTE BOSCO

Janine Infante Bosco lives in New York City, she has always loved reading and writing. When she was thirteen, she began to write her own stories and her passion for writing took off as the years went on. At eighteen, she even wrote a full screenplay with dreams of one day becoming a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

Janine writes emotionally charged novels with an emphasis on family bonds, strong willed female characters, and alpha male men who will do anything for the women they love. She loves to interact with fans and fellow avid romance readers like herself.

She is proud of her success as an author and the friendships she’s made in the book community but her greatest accomplishment to date would be her two sons Joseph and Paul.

Sometimes we must let go of what was, appreciate what remains and fearlessly embrace what comes next.

Sebastian “Bas”

Born to a family of outlaws, I was destined to ride with the Satan’s Knights MC. With mayhem and havoc in my blood and chaos living deep in my soul, I learned the Devil don’t sleep. You never hear him creeping and he often comes disguised as everything you ever wanted.

I was just teenager when she first showed, masquerading as the girl of my dreams. A whiskey shootin’ spitfire who knocked me on my ass and helped me turn the town upside down. The girl who stole my heart with her smile and never gave it back. The same bitch who ruined me and turned my blood to ice.

It’s been six years since I turned my back on Mac, my family and my club. I’ve pushed her to the back of my head, wrote everyone off and damned the Kentucky charter to hell. But, where God built a church, the Devil built a chapel. Now, her life is on the line and it’s clear I’m still a sucker for her gorgeous chaos because I’m the one riding to her rescue.

Mackenzie “Mac”

I often dreamed of what it would be like to stare into Bas’ blue eyes again. To hear his raspy voice whisper his love for me and feel his strong arms around me. After all, it’s always been in his embrace that I felt the safest.In my dreams, he abolishes my sins and forgives me for breaking both our hearts.But this is no dream.I’m running from a nightmare and the one running with me, looks at me with enough anger to burn the world to ash.Once upon a time, we were in love.Once upon a time, it was us against the world.Once upon a time, he didn’t look at me and see the Devil.If only he knew the truth.If only he knew the Devil was a broken angel with tattered wings.An angel who sacrificed her heart and soul for him.

I am so excited about this book, this Author, Property of Parrish and where Satan’s Knights MC all began!! I want to start at the beginning and read it all!!

Obviously this is my first Janine Infante Bosco book. But it DEFINITELY WON’T be my last!!!

This book has so much heart. Bas is sent away to prison and was in there for 5 years, then came out to find his life had changed and gone on without him. He decides to leave Albany, NY and ends up with the Brooklyn Satan’s Knights MC where he meets Parrish and learns what brotherhood and family is really about. There’s a death in is family, bringing him back to Albany. From there he ends up with a new responsibility that changes his life in many ways. I love Bas, he was such a good man!! Parrish and Satan’s Knights MC are a good family to Bas!! I want to read more about them and the history of this MC!! I’m so thrilled to have found this Author!!!

I highly recommend that you read this book, especially if you enjoy MC Romance!!❤️

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Today is the cover reveal for Phi Alpha Pi by Sara Marks. The cover is designed by Risa Rodil. This cover reveal is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. Read on to see the cover, discover more about this book and check out the first book in this series.

Blurb:
Phi Alpha Pi is the oldest and largest sorority on campus and new president Lizbeth has a busy senior year ahead of her. She’s determined to keep her sorority in good standing on campus after a year on academic probation. She’s trying to manage the new sorority house manager, Mrs. C, who has her own ideas about how to support the sorority sisters. All while trying to find balance with her own academic goals to complete an honors thesis, graduate, and decide her future plans.

The last thing Lizbeth expects is her anger when Wil, a new member of the Alpha Pi fraternity, pushes every one of her buttons. Lizbeth finds Wil, a new transfer to the university with his best friend, to be rude, snobby, and judgmental. Even though she tries to avoid him, he seems to be everywhere, scowling with displeasure when he sees her. That is, until his Thanksgiving proclamation of love. That causes Lizbeth to reconsider how she sees the world.

About the Author:
Born in Boston, MA and raised in Miami, FL, Sara Marks has two masters degrees and plans to never stop getting over educated. She likes the idea of having all the academic regalia she can ever possess and winning with the most degrees in her family. By day she’s an academic librarian. In what little free time she has, she also knits and plays with her dog Cedric Doggory.

Gigi is standing at the open door, the loud rock music spilling out into the alley. She looks left, then right, as if searching for someone. No great leap of the imagination required to know she’s looking for her friend.

And she sees me. Her gaze stops on me.

She steps all the way out and lets the door close behind her. “Rett?”

Fuck. This is fucking bad. I suck on my cigarette and wait. Maybe she’ll take the hint and go away.

But Gigi never cared what I said or did, back then. She stuck by my side through my silences and snarky comments.

Obviously she hasn’t changed.

She heads straight to me, plants herself in front of me and shakes back her white-blond hair. “Rett. What now, you’ll pretend you can’t see me?”

Damn, how could I ever pretend that? She’s wearing a low-cut red sweater over a tiny skirt and those damn knee-length socks that drive me crazy. Girl likes wearing red. And damn if I can tear my eyes away from her cleavage.

I’m so fucking hard I’m about to bust a nut.

“What do you want?” I mutter, flicking ash from my cigarette, a thoughtless gesture, when it becomes clear she isn’t budging.

“Did you see Sydney out here? I’ve lost her again.”

She smells of something sweet, like toffee. My mouth waters. My dick throbs. She smells like home, and like pleasure, and like danger all at once.

Throwing my cigarette away, I take a step toward her. “Go now.” She’s wearing down all of my self-control. I have to send her back inside, send her away from me. Having her around is risky on a thousand different levels.

She takes a step back. “Not unless you tell me what you saw. Did she buy drugs? Tell me, Jarett.”

“And what will you do if I tell you?” I back her into the club’s fire escape ladder. “What the fuck can you do about it?”

“Not me. She won’t listen to me, or talk to me about this. But you could help me.”

I blink, not sure I heard her well. I’m looking down into her pretty eyes, at her full, red mouth, and shake my head. “What did you say?”

“For old times’ sake, Rett… I need your help.”

Author Bio:

Hi! My name is Jo, and I torture pretty boys for a living… 🙂

I am a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, best known for my series Inked Brotherhood and Damage Control. I write edgy New Adult romance with sexy bad boys and strong-willed heroines.

Be the first to get your hands on my new releases & offers, giveaways, previews, and more, by signing up here http://bit.ly/1CTNTHM

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He’s pushing forty. He drinks. He smokes. He eats snack cakes for breakfast. And he’s the sole guardian of his orphaned nephew, Spencer.

But Spencer isn’t just any five-year-old. He’s a child prodigy, and living together requires compromises that neither uncle nor nephew are prepared to make.

This short story, from the author of Fender and The Fifteenth of June, is teeming with raunch and dark humor, mocking the old adage that blood is thicker than water.

A Book With No Pictures also introduces readers to children’s librarian, Afton Morrison, the subject of an upcoming thriller series, also set in the fictional town of Wakefield.

My thoughts:

This short little book (27 pages) sure did have an awful lot to say. The main character, a divorcee named Terry, ends up having to raise his nephew, Spencer, when his brother and sister in-law are killed birdwatching. Yep, you read that right….birdwatching. Just to give you an idea of the humor in the book. Terry isn’t a very nice guy, and is always thinking his nephew is an idiot.
So it’s filled with sarcastic humor. I didn’t know if I was going to like it when I first started reading the first few pages, but I really ended up enjoying it. It is really different from anything I’ve read before, with its quirky and sarcastic humor.

From bad checks to bathroom graffiti, Brent Jones has always been drawn to writing. He won a national creative writing competition at the age of fourteen, although he can’t recall what the story was about. Seventeen years later, he gave up his freelance career as a social media manager to pursue creative writing full-time. Fender and The Fifteenth of June are his first two novels.

Jones writes from his home in Fort Erie, Canada. He’s happily married, a bearded cyclist, a mediocre guitarist, (sometimes) vegetarian, and the proud owner of two dogs with a God complex. Subscribe to his newsletter (AuthorBrentJones.com) or follow him on social media (@AuthorBrentJ) for updates.

Blurb:
As a rogue government official orders an alien attack on the Empire of America, two women must uncover the government’s dark truth and unravel the weave of lives that have spanned decades. They’ll learn why alien-human hybrids were created, and will need to master their own alien powers in order to survive.
–
Genetic testing on humans began during the Cold War, when ancient alien DNA was discovered in the artic. As super soldiers were created during the war, Americans soon began to create the first wave of alien-human-hybrids in preparation for the day when the aliens would strike.

Nearly a century on, the world has been broken by an extra-terrestrial war and Kit Valletta is a human-mutant trying to survive in one of the only free zones left in the Empire. But the President wants her dead and is going to stop at nothing until all the mutants Kit freed are back in her control.

When Kit meets Evie Fox, one of the President’s scientists, who’s broken free of the wire, the two begin their fight for freedom and justice as the alien attack hits Empire soil. Together, both women will need to accept the secrets they’ve been trying to hide and decide if they’re the ones who are powerful enough to save the Empire from the President’s dictatorship regime and alien invasion.

About the Author:
S.A. Stephenson is a sci-fi author, blogger and editor. She writes LGBTQ+ stories about kickass women and can be found hanging out at writing events in Auckland. She’s originally from the UK but now calls New Zealand home.

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This is my stop during the book blitz for Once in a Lifetime by Kathryn R. Biel. This book blitz is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 11 till 24 September. See the tour schedule here.

Blurb:
Ten years ago, the Sassy Cats were at the top of the charts until Callie Smalls walked away to pursue her career in fashion and television. The other four members—Angie, Tabitha, Mandy, and Daphne—were left to fend for themselves and continue on with their lives.

That is, until the day when Callie decides to book a gig for the group at a major music festival, without talking to her former band mates. Scattered across the country, at different points in life, can they rekindle the magic in the music?

A soccer mom who’s husband doesn’t know about her past. A fading star, sacrificing all to stay in the spotlight just one second more. A party girl, challenged with her most important role yet. A tiger mom, fighting for her son. A desperate woman, unhappy and alone.

A lot can change in the course of a decade. Will it be harmony or hatred for the Sassy Cats?

About the Author:
Telling stories of resilient women, Kathryn R. Biel hails from Upstate New York where her most important role is being mom and wife to an incredibly understanding family who don’t mind fetching coffee and living in a dusty house. In addition to being Chief Home Officer and Director of Child Development of the Biel household, she works as a school-based physical therapist. She attended Boston University and received her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from The Sage Colleges. After years of writing countless letters of medical necessity for wheelchairs, finding increasingly creative ways to encourage insurance companies to fund her client’s needs, and writing entertaining annual Christmas letters, she decided to take a shot at writing the kind of novel that she likes to read. Kathryn is the author of ten women’s fiction, romantic comedy, contemporary romance, and chick lit works, including Live for This and Made for Me. Please follow Kathryn on her website, http://www.kathrynrbiel.com and sign up for her newsletter at bit.ly/KRBNews.

We are Brenda, Norma and Lindsay and we are The Traveling Sisters. We read and review together. We are the hosts to The Traveling Sisters & Friends Goodreads Reading Groups and The Traveling Friends Instagram Reading Group.